We are symptomatic of the universe
Alan Watts in Out of Your Mind:
If there is any such thing as intelligence or love or beauty, you find it in other people. Those things exist in human beings, and if they exist in us, it means that intelligence and love and beauty are symptomatic of the scheme of things.
Apples are symptomatic of apple trees; roses are symptomatic of rose bushes; and we are symptomatic of the universe. The earth is not some big rock infested with living organisms any more than your skeleton is a series of bones infested with cells. Yes, the earth is geological. But this geological entity grows people, and our lives on earth are symptomatic of a peopling solar system, which in turn is a symptom of our galaxy, and our galaxy is a symptom of a whole company of galaxies, and goodness knows what that’s a symptom of.
We exist only in relationship to others. Our actions can be described only in their context. My existing requires you, and so forth. We are not separate, we define each other. The external world is as much you as your own body.